According to Treehugger, Alice Waters doesn’t have a microwave. I don’t know if that’s shocking or not because we don’t, either. We donated our ancient college-years leftover when we moved more than two years ago, and we never got around to purchasing another. The only time I think one might come in handy is when my coffee goes cold. It wasn’t a matter of saving energy for us; it was just one less thing to have to move. What about you? Do you rely on a microwave, or could you live without it? –Mary T.

Photo by John Lee

You know our hearts go aflutter with when we see a gorgeous butterfly display, so you can imagine the palpitations caused when we spotted this collection in the Cabinet of Curiosities of Bonnier de la Mosson in Paris (via Morbid Anatomy via Boing Boing). Leave it to French aristocrats to take preserving their treasures to a new level. The original cabinet was created in the 17th Century, what you see here is a painstaking restoration in the current museum. Makes you look at that china cabinet in a whole new light, doesn’t it?

Do you have a interesting way of displaying your collections? Show them here! Send us an email at letters at shelterffic dotcom.

Need an air purifier that’s stylish and has an energy-saving PSC motor? A water bottle that isn’t plastic? A gorgeous pendant light made from recycled washers? A colorful, adjustable hemp dog collar? You’ve come to the right place for all of it if you visit The Ultimate Green Store. The huge collection of green goods ranges from $6 cleaning products from Method to a $4100 settee made with renewable latex and organic cotton. If you want natural, biodegradable, sustainable products, you’ll find some for almost every area of your life here. That’s a lot of green! –Mary T.

These lamps from Kyouei Design are so fun, I’d love to hang one on each side of my bed. The red ones may be a little too horror-movie for some, but how fun to have one of these hanging above the mirror in the bathroom?! Looking through the archives, it seems I’m not the only one here at Shelterrific with a bit of a macabre side. Twenty-one thousand Japanese yen sounds like a lot, but a quick google search revealed it’s only about $210! –Erica P.

We can’t help you with the manual labor, but we can point you to this very helpful spring cleaning checklist at Casa Sugar. It’s a great, thorough guide on the whole house — what to spray, dust, dry clean, vacuum…you get the idea. We got such a positive response to our own daily cleaning and organization checklist, we knew you would appreciate this one.

1. We aren’t the only ones curious about the new Haagen-Dazs Five ice cream flavors. Daffodil says: “I purposely try not to look at the ice cream freezer in the grocery store. Maybe this stuff would be worth breaking that rule for. I could see where Brown Sugar wouldn’t be a good main ingredient, but most of the others sound good. I’m wondering if the Ginger flavor would be too strong, though. A little ginger goes a long way, and if ginger is one of only five ingredients, well…” Click here to see what Mary T thought of them.

2. We have quite a few urban farmers among us! We asked Would You Keep Chickens? and couldn’t believe that many of you did already! Christine wrote this advice for newbies: “I have a flock, please keep in mind the that you do need a predator proof enclosure, even in the city. Even in the daytime, once predators know you have chickens they will come.”

3. We found a beverage to please a crowd. Dry Soda! Jessie writes: “A friend of mine brought over a case for a party recently and I love the rhubarb!”

4. It’s great to cool off a hot laptop, but not if it hurts your wrists. Lori cautions: “I consulted an ergonomic specialist at my job a few years ago and was told that any keyboard at the angle is actually NOT ergonomically friendly. Your wrists should bend down or straight instead of bending up. Just trying to dissuade a myth. I think bending your wrists up like this can cause carpel tunnel.” Click here to read more.

5. There are some easy ways to freshen up your home for spring. Here is Holly D’s ritual: “We spray our bed pillows with a very light spritz of all natural cleaner and leave in the sun all day. The sun seems to bleach, clean and freshen everything. Also, we pick up all our rugs shake them out and leave them in the fresh air all day. All our duvet covers get a good cleaning and we are ready for the warm summer nights to come. Also, today I dumped a bunch of baking soda down our kitchen and bath sinks to clean them up a bit.” Click here for more of your spring cleaning tips!

Yum Sugar has some great baking must-haves. What are yours?

Meanwhile, Casa Sugar has bowls that are not must-haves (nor cheap) but are we-wants.

Cluttered office? The NY Times tells you that you’re not alone.

Here’s a space-saving, stylish chair from Target at Shoebox Decor, a site for small-home style that just got on our radar.

Could you make a meal for friends on $50? Jezebel wonders who couldn’t.

Maybe saving on food would get easier if you knew which 15 foods you don’t have to buy organic, at The Daily Green.

Common plastic object, a little paint, instant art. At Design*Sponge.

More Ways to Waste Time tells us that steampunk is everywhere. Even at Restoration Hardware.

Is the RV going the way of the dinosaurs? At Salon.

Composting — why? Here’s seven reasons at Planet Green.

We love cute bunnies as much as the next person (perhaps a bit more, actually) but these ironic chocolates from Bloomsberry & Co made us snicker with delight today. There are six designs in the new Easter range, but our favorites are the wise No Evils bunnies and the busy bunnies, above. They’re a $5 treat that we’d love to find in our baskets, any day. Via Outblush.

Want to fake a designer cake without risking creating your own Cake Wreck? The brainchild of Kathleen of Kathleen’s Cakes, CakeVase is an ingenius little device that could give you “Wow!” results even with amateur skills. The CakeVase is simply a way to hold fresh flowers on top of your iced cake. There’s a “first tries” gallery at the site that shows you can get pretty impressive results the first time. (You can also use the CakeVase to fancy up a store-bought cake.) There’s a blog you can check out for fun inspiration, too. Get the CakeVase for about $20 at Amazon, or at these retailers.

Haagen-Dazs with just five ingredients and a lovely, simplified package design? I couldn’t just let that go by without a taste. So, purely for research purposes, we brought home two pints of Haagen-Dazs Five: Brown Sugar and Mint. The Mint I like a lot; it’s simple, like the name implies. Not overly sweet, no fake coloring, tastes a lot like the homemade ice cream I used to get at family reunions. (I realize that sounds a little twee, but it’s true.) The Brown Sugar didn’t get such great reviews. To both my husband and me it tastes a little harsh — a little more cream to the brown sugar ratio might help, or maybe we’re just not that into the taste of brown sugar as a main ingredient. Overall, though, my interest is piqued, and I do love the idea of simpler food. We may have to give the other flavors a try so that I can report more fully. The sacrifices I make for this blog! –Mary T.